Currently, but also with the future introduction of the 787/A350, do Fukuoka, Okinawa, and Sapporo stand a chance to receive non-stop flights to the United States, be they daily or 3/4x weekly services?

Quoting FLY777UAL (Thread starter):Currently, but also with the future introduction of the 787/A350, do Fukuoka, Okinawa, and Sapporo stand a chance to receive non-stop flights to the United States, be they daily or 3/4x weekly services?

They actually already have non-stop service to the US, just not the continental United States. Continental Airlines flies to all of them.

I think there may be potential for Fukuoka, Delta flew PDX-FUK for a short time in the late 1990s, but I'm not sure about the other ones.

I think that Sapporo could definately have service. Fukuoka would be nice as well. If international service were to increase at Fukuoka and Sapporo, NRT, KIX and NGO would suffer as much of their business is from feeders from Kyushu and Northern Honshu.

If it happens it will be a long time from now. But I could see it happening.

Interesting topic and I think the 787/350's will start a new wave of expansion from secondary airports around the world. Japan would benefit from this as NRT can only process so many flights. We are seeing this now with NGO getting new service to the USA and around the world (NGO was, incidentially also served by DL from their once-upon-a-time Pacific gateway at PDX). CO is experimenting with secondary airports in the UK which will probably be successful.

Unfortunately, no matter what kind of winglets and gadgets are put on the 757, it can't cross the Pacific in one hop. Thank goodness.

If the NRT status quo doesn't change there is a good chance that a direct US mainland to Sapporo or Fukuoka is quite possible. I don't see Okinawa in the mix, as the pax mix would be predominantly military related personnel and there are enough flights to NGO & KIX to handle the connection traffic. NGO & KIX stand to make the most out of the NRT status quo.

Sapporo's best chance is probably a flight to a Star hub like SFO, as Sapporo is an ideal feeder location for entire Japan.

Fukuoka could be serviced by NW from DTW with 788, and of course a Star hub like SFO too.

Until JL makes a choice or no choice in joining an Alliance, it will be difficult to envision them starting up any new flights from other cities outside of NRT. Although JL codeshares with AA, it is a relationship of convenience similar to other JL ties with other foreign carriers.

NGO & KIX could see additional service particularly NW.
788 would allow: FUK-DTW, NGO-MSP, KIX-MSP, & MEM-NRT.
332 could allow restart of KIX-SEA.
With the pending pullout of JL from HNL-FUK market, NW could return with DC-10s or A330s.